LG BD300, Blu-ray and Netflix Together at Last!

This September a new Blu-ray player will hit the market from LG that makes cunning use of the Ethernet port. The BD300 will be capable of streaming Netflix movies. Blu-ray Profile 2.0 certainly has its advantages.

If you’re one of those choosey chaps for whom playing back Blu-ray discs and up-converting standard definition DVDs to 1080p simply isn’t enough... LG has your number. It’s the model number BD300 to be precise. LG is the Korean electronics firm that’s been planning set-top-box streamers for use with Netflix, the sort that might compete with Apple TV. But few would have expected to see the Netflix streamer combined with a Blu-ray player.

Netflix subscribers will be able to take advantage of its 12,000 title library of streaming video entertainment without the need for an extra box. At an anticipated price point below $500, LG’s new Blu-ray player will be an affordable way to get the format’s complete profile into your home theater. The BD300 will include BD Live, BonusView features and LG’s own SimpLink technology that combines on-screen menus of other LG products.

Netflix is looking like a company on the move. It’s already promoting its streaming movie titles through both Xbox Live and Roku. We’ve been looking for an LG set-top-box announcement, but combining it with a Blu-ray player makes sense. The LG press release is of course a bit light on details for the Blu-ray player. For instance it doesn’t mention audio-video codecs with which the player will be compatible. We’ll look for more details as September arrives.

LG already gave us the first Blu-ray/HD DVD combo player, now it’s giving us the first Netflix/Blu-ray combo player. Unexpected innovations are a good thing.